Lost and Found

I was really enjoying Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan until its totally unnecessary and creepy climax.

It is the story of Rocky, a young woman whose life falls apart after failing to save her husband with CPR after he has a heart attack. She moves to a small island off the coast of Maine, takes a job as an Animal Control Warden, and tries to heal.

A black Labrador comes into her life, and as the story of his missing owner unravels, the book descends into strange territory.

I liked Sheehan's writing, and was very drawn into the main characters story. I felt there were other interesting characters that were not developed well enough. This could have been a really good book, but somehow it missed the mark.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is being made into a movie directed by Ang Lee. I thought I better read the book before seeing the movie.

Life of Pi is the remarkable story of Pi Patel who became a castaway after the ship he was sailing on from India to Canada with his family sank. He, along with a Bengal tiger from his father's zoo, are the only survivors.

Martel writes this as an incredible true story, one that will make you believe in God. Only part way through the book did I realize it was entirely made up. True or not, it is quite an incredible story.  Martel explores in a fascinating way, the nature of stories and the nature of religion and how through stories and through divine faith we find our place in the universe.

However, if you are an animal lover as I am, you might find many parts of the story quite brutal.  I started out liking this book, and by the end was very happy to be done with it.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany

I love Susan Vreeland's novels. She brings to light wonderful works of art, often by women who were unacknowledged in their time, and creates wonderful works of historical fiction. Her latest offering is Clara and Mr. Tiffany. It is the story of Clara Driscoll and her women's department, who were responsible for designing and creating many of the most famous Tiffany lamps.

We are taken into the art world of New York City at the turn of the century, and the fabulous Tiffany glass making factories. It is also a story of women having to fight for their right to work in the arts for little or no recognition and less money than the men. Tiffany would only hire unmarried women, so these women also had to chose between work and love.

However, more than hardship, Vreeland brings to light the beauty of nature that inspires the creative spirit and makes all things possible. Not my very favorite of her novels, but still another another great read from Susan Vreeland.

Caleb's Crossing

Caleb's Crossing is the new book by Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winning author of March and People of the Book.  Caleb's Crossing tells the little known story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665.

There is little known about this extraordinary man and his life growing up on what is today Martha's Vinyard, and then finally travelling to Cambridge. Brooks has created a wonderful piece of historical fiction imagining his life and times, as two cultures come together and often clash.

The book is told from the point of view of a colonist he meets as a youth, Bethia, the minister's daughter, who he names Storm Eyes. I loved this novel and found it very interesting, yet it was much more Bethia's story than Calebs'. She was denied an education because she was a girl, yet she always listened in on the boy's studies while doing her chores. She is a fascinating character in her own right.

Whether you read it to learn about a small piece of history or simply to read a really good story, it is a beautifully written book, well worth reading.

The Descendants

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings is a wonderful novel that was turned into a great movie starring George Clooney. The novel is set in Hawaii, but not the tourist Hawaii, the real Hawaii, with all the pain and loss, heartbreak and struggle one finds anywhere in the world.

Matt King, our protagonist, is coming to terms with the fact that his wife is in a coma and might never recover. He has two daughters, 10 and 17, that have become completely out of his control, and he is at a loss as to how to pick up the broken pieces of his life.

Add to this the rich story of Hawaii's privileged decendants of royalty who have inherited vast fortunes without doing any work themselves. This is the story of Matt King and his cousins. The novel starts in Honolulu, but moves to the Big Island briefly and then to Kauai.

Hemmings has crafted a powerful tale of a family trying to find their way back to one another through grief and loss and the creation of something new. Hawaii is there in the background at all times as a strong force shaping the lives of the characters. A complex and powerful novel.

The Sea is My Brother

The Sea is My Brother is the lost novel by Jack Kerouac. It has just been published 70 years after it was written. Kerouac wrote this novel when he was only 21, seven years before his first novel The Town and the City was published. In true Kerouac style we have been given a glimpse into the writer that he would be become. Themes that he wrote about his whole life are present here in this early work.

Kerouac's struggle to unite the two sides of his personality are here personified by Martin and Everhart. Martin is the free spirit, with no attachments, no commitments, reckless, ready to take life as it comes and live fully in the moment. Everhart is the scholar, settled, living at home, teaching literature, less adventurous, more tied down and worried about the future. They both enlist in the Merchant Marines and set out on a great adventure.

If you are already a Kerouac fan, this is a wonderful addition to his body of work. If you are new to Kerouac, this is a good introduction to his writing, and you can go from here to his more famous works like Dharma Bums and On the Road.

Summerland

Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand is set on Nantucket Island, and tells the story of the peole who live there year round, not just the summer vacationers. The story focuses on a group of high school teenagers from three different families, and a devastating car crash that happens on graduation night.

This is the very real story about how these kids and their parents deal with such great loss. Hilderbrand writes from many different viewpoints and it works. Her characters are well developed and I came to care about most of them and wanted to know what actually happened and what their future would hold.

Some parts of the story I found less believable than others, and it was all summed up into a rather tidy ending. Still, a worthwhile read.